Tag Archives: here we go again

July 24, 2011 · 7:59 pm

And, so it continues. Or: Yup, even when the White Sox can’t beat the Indians, the Indians beat themselves.

So, the Indians lost today. Fortunately for the White Sox, they were the ones wearing the visitor’s jerseys. Winning a game 4-2 with 3 unearned runs is pretty much the White Sox way. But, if the opposing team is dropping fly balls, throwing pick-off attempts into the outfield and throwing wild pitches, you have to take advantage of it.

There’s a lot of unrest in the White Sox camp right now. There are intermittent coaching meltdowns, the offense is still on vacation, there are trade rumors swirling left and right and it’s possible that (even with no money to spend) the White Sox could look entirely different in a couple of weeks, Phil Humber is taking a (temporary) trip back to the bullpen, and the entire (current) team is more or less playing below expectations, but because of the insanity of the AL Central, they’re not entirely out of the race.

So, sure, the White Sox won this game only because the Indians gave it away. But, it wasn’t all bad. Edwin Jackson pitched another solid outing, Omar Vizquel made a fantastic game-ending diving stop, Chris Sale is doing such a fantastic job out of the bullpen that he might just pitch himself out of a starting job next year, and even though he wasn’t his sharpest, Sergio Santos still managed to collect his 20th save of the year – not bad for a guy who has been a pitcher for about 15 minutes. And, not to mention, special mention of the ability of the White Sox to wear their sunglasses over their eyes and not on their hats.

And, at the end of the day, my team still likes each other – which makes watching the ridiculousness that is the 2011 White Sox a little bit more bearable.

And, just in case you had forgotten, Omar is awesome. And, this might be my favorite picture of the entire season so far.

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July 21, 2011 · 8:27 pm

And, we’re back. Or: The optimism was nice while it lasted.

So, alas. There were some good times, and then there was more of the same. I’m a little ashamed to say that I actually didn’t make it to the end of last night’s game against the Royals.

Again, Johnny Danks. Brilliant. The White Sox utter absence of anything resembling offense or hustle? Not so brilliant.

It is entirely on the back of Paul Konerko (who has cooled off slightly) and both the starting and the relief pitching that we’re not in Houston Astros territory. But, man-oh-man, the last few games have been hard to watch.

Well, today is an off day and tomorrow we start a stint in Cleveland. The White Sox are about 24 hours removed from an Ozzie meltdown that was probably somewhat deserved and possibly even quite rational and I hope it spurred something. SOMEWHERE. I’m enjoying a bit of a mental health holiday, myself actually.

Since the Jays had a day game, I guess I’m going to settle in, try not to actually melt in the middle of this heat wave and watch the Rays take on the Yankees and just enjoy watching a game where I have only a moderate interest in the actual outcome and take a night off from having my heart stomped on.

I don’t have a baseball picture appropriate for this post, so I’ve decided to post a picture of my dog.

So see y’all tomorrow. Hopefully with everyone feeling a little more optimistic.

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June 16, 2011 · 4:20 pm

Ugh. Again. Or: Baseball is still a mental game, in case you were wondering.

So, we still can’t beat Minnesota. Mark Buehrle pitched 7 solid innings, gave up 3 hits and – because one was a solo HR – he gets the loss.

0-for-6 with RISP. 3 of our order going 0-for-4. GIDP x 2.

I am literally and figuratively throwing my hands up in the air. There’s something amiss and I really hope they get it figured out.

And, I really hope the bats get on the plane to Arizona, because this was a heartbreaker.

The quest for .500 continues. Go Sox!

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June 16, 2011 · 12:52 am

A loss in Minnesota. Or: I probably could have written this post before the game even started.

So, anyone not new to my blog knows that I am a huge fan of Gavin Floyd (see: banner at the top of the page), almost in spite of myself. And, because of this, I am acutely aware of how incredibly frustrating he can be at times. Obviously, tonight was one of those times. When he’s having a rough day, it’s hard to watch, because he just doesn’t seem as mentally solid as a lot of other pitchers. You (or, okay, maybe just me) just want to grab him and shake him and tell him to breathe and relax and send him a sports psychologist.

(Incidently, this is probably why, of the current 5-slash-6 man rotation, he would probably have the hardest time coming out of the bullpen (ironically, he was the one of them who has actually been used in relief), in my very humble opinion.)

So, Gavin usually loses to Minnesota. So, it wasn’t terribly surprising that – even though the current Minnesota line-up was sort of haphazardly pieced together from the Minnesota farm system – the sight of the Twins’ uniforms still managed to unsettle him. A mentally-fragile player against a team that (despite all protests to the contrary) seems to psych him out a bit and I’m sure the extra 24 hours he had to think about it didn’t help. He eventually settled down, but by that point, the damage was done. The White Sox don’t beat Minnesota, Gavin doesn’t beat Minnesota, we still can’t stop a running game, and today wasn’t really anything we didn’t see coming.

I don’t like blogging about the White So when they lose, but I am particularly unhappy about doing so when Gavin loses, so that’s really all I have to say about that.

But, all of that being said, when Gavin is on, he’s incredible to watch, he can be dominating and he’s got an intangible presence about him, and I have no trouble remembering why I’m such a fan of him.

I just wish I didn’t need a Maalox every time he takes the mound.

On to tomorrow. Hopefully, we stop living in the past and get out of here with a little bit of momentum going forward. Go Sox!

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June 5, 2011 · 6:23 pm

Well, that’s not good. Or: Possibly very, very bad.

Well, today ended with a loss. Which, is a bummer. AJ Pierzynski was O-fer, Lillibidge was O-fer, Alexei was 1-5 (with a single that he got by the skin of his teeth), Beckham, Dunn and Quentin were 1-fer and man this wasn’t fun.

And, it didn’t start out that way. Jake Peavy was perfect (really, really perfect – 4K and ~30 pitches) through 3 innings and things were rolling along swimmingly. Paul Konerko was back in the line-up and he was on fire from the get-go.

And then, in the 4th inning, Jake Peavy gave up a couple of singles, allowed a base runner to advance on a wild pitch, gave up a run on a sac fly and then (though he had only given up one walk through 21 innings pitched this season) walked three consecutive batters and gave up a first-pitch 2-out grand slam to Ryan Raburn and our 2-0 lead gets flipped on its head and it’s 2-6.

If that’s not enough of a kick in the teeth, Will Ohman comes out at the top of the 5th even though Peavy’s only thrown 75 pitches and all of a sudden I’m pretty sure everyone else was thinking what I was thinking. Which was something along the lines of, “Oh, crap.” Not sending out his starter at that point in the game – regardless of how bad that one inning was – normally isn’t Ozzie’s style.

That’s pretty much where the game went from being a run-of-the-mill loss to very, very bad.

And, sure enough, Peavy was out with a strained groin. Re-evaluation due tomorrow and a blow to the bullpen. And, not to mention, probably the last way *anyone* wants to see the end of the 6-man rotation. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I’m worried, and I bet I’m not alone. Man, I hope he’s okay. For his sake.

Well, in continuing the tradition of focusing on the “things that do not entirely suck”, I bring you the defensive brilliance of Gordon Beckham, who would like everyone to remember that people not named Brent and Paul play for the White Sox. He followed up his earlier solo-HR with an excellent layout catch – which I have linked here for your viewing pleasure.

Well, tomorrow Seattle is in town and we get to do it all over again.

Go Sox!

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June 1, 2011 · 2:27 pm

Is it too early to see the writing on the wall? Or: 2 and a half innings of ouch.

Okay, so I know that we’re only in the mid-3rd, but man. This has already been painful.

I am going to preface what I am about to say with making it very clear that I really like Ramon Castro as a catcher. I think he can call a great game (see: Mark Buehrle’s perfect game) and he’s not bad with a bat and he’s been more than servicable this season in the back-up catcher role.

However, that being said, Gavin Floyd has a decent record this year. And, a great record in Boston over his career. However, his 1-5 daytime record says something that makes today not all that surprising. We’ve only seen two innings of work from Gavin and, by this point, I’ve seen him shake off at least a half-dozen signs. To say nothing of the 7 hits and 3 earned runs already piled up on the Boston scorebard. For reasons that are unclear to me, I just don’t know if Gavin can pitch to him.

Either that, or Gavin just *REALLY* isn’t a morning person.

SIGH. Oh well. Back to the game thinking positive thoughts and hoping that things go upward from here.

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May 23, 2011 · 10:05 pm

I am overwhelmed with deja-vu. Or: Why do I usually have time to blog on days that frustrate me?

So, watching the White Sox starter hang out on the mound for 8 innings, and throw more-or-less decent pitches while our bats go to sleep and we get shut out by the Rangers?

I think we’ve done this before.

*sigh*

I know that these Rangers are not quite the Rangers we played a week ago (just in case Hamilton and Cruz thought we had forgotten about them), but there was something about this game that was just pretty painful. It was kind of like we just never were in it at all. The loss against the Dodger’s last week wasn’t nearly as painful, since there was some good baseball in there.

It felt a lot like April up in here tonight.

So, in the spirit of April, I’m going also going to try to hold onto my optimism. Because, I don’t have too much with a positive spin about tonight. But, that being said, if the Rangers weren’t the same team we played the last time, the White Sox weren’t the same team tonight that we’ve been lately.

Alexei Ramirez was named AL player of the week this week. His bat was heating up at the same time as his defense, and it really was a good week for him. And, it also marks the first time since early April (another time where we were regularly winning) when both Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko made the list.

I’m hopeful that this is a sign of further good things to come.

Congrats, Alexei.

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April 30, 2011 · 7:08 pm

Okay. Power of positive thinking. Or: Go team, go!

pomspoms.gif Alright. Here we go.

Last chance to salvage a couple of more good memories in April.

It’s windy and wild and generally ominous outside.

It’s hard to not to have pre-emptive similar feelings on the inside as we get started at The Cell.

I’m employing the power of positive thinking and wishing for good defense tonight. I’m not wishing for everything else – I’m wiling to start somewhere.

Tonight’s line up was good on paper when the season started. But, today, it might be pretty shaky.

Alright, here we go.

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